Water pollution

Water pollution is a major global problem which requires ongoing evaluation and revision of water resource policy at all levels (international down to individual aquifers and wells). 

Mining is another major source of water pollution in the country. The release of metals such as zinc, copper, iron, cobalt and nickel into water sources contaminates the water.The presence of iron in water, for example, has some detrimental effects on people’s health.

Polluted river

If consumed in excess, iron can result in severe stomach pains and the damaging of internal organs especially the brain and liver.Excessive intake of zinc in water leads to health complications such as neurological damage, anaemia, bone marrow failure and damage to the central nervous system.

In addition, the high exposure to nickel has some negative health effects such as skin rash, asthma-like reactions, bronchitis and poor lung function. A significant number of mines in Zimbabwe use chemicals such as cyanide and mercury to process their minerals.

Cyanide and mercury are associated with a number of health effects such as kidney and brain damage, skin rashes, gene damage and failure of the central nervous system among other detrimental health failures.Therefore, properly functional treatment plants should be constructed, where these chemicals would undergo a chemical degrading process to reduce their toxicity levels before disposing them in water bodies.

Zimbabweans should draw lessons from the Minamata mercury disaster in Japan in the 1970s, which resulted in the contamination of the whole Minamata bay by mercury, leading to the loss of fish and human life.